- Lighthouse Canton, a Singapore headquartered wealth and asset management firm will offer Venture Capital and Private Equity (“VC/PE”) services alongside its existing financial solutions
- Looks to deliver origination, book building, portfolio management, and reporting services to both existing and new clients
- Firm to set up a Lighthouse Canton and employee venture capital fund that will largely co-invest alongside clients and investors, sharing similar risks with clients & ensuring alignment of interests
Venture Capital and Private Equity (“VC/PE”) investments are seeing increasing allocations from family offices. With many family offices seeking diversity and alpha from their traditional portfolios, overall portfolio allocations towards VC/PE strategies have risen from 5% to 7-9% in recent years. (source: UBS Global Family Office Report 2020, Family Offices Investing in Venture Capital 2020 by SVB Capital and Campden Wealth)
However, many investors currently face several challenges with their portfolios, such as a lack of time and resources to track, monitor and conduct due diligence; difficulties in ensuring their portfolios align with their investment strategies and objectives; as well as a constantly shifting regulatory environment. These factors all make it tricky for investors to manage their portfolios.
In response to this, Lighthouse Canton has announced that it is establishing a capability to help better serve this growing market. It has appointed a team of experts to provide private investment management services, including origination, book building, portfolio management, and reporting services to both existing and new clients. Alongside the investment management services, the firm will set up a venture capital fund with investment from Lighthouse Canton and employees. This fund will largely co-invest alongside client investors, thereby sharing similar risks with clients.
While the fund will largely be sector agnostic, it will primarily target growth stage, tech-enabled companies in South-East Asia, China and North America, with the potential for a select few transactions in other geographies.
A natural flow of potential investments exists within Lighthouse Canton through proprietary networks, investment advisors, clients, and directly from start-ups. The firm will leverage this flow and seek to enhance the pipeline of attractive investment opportunities further.
The co-investment approach ensures the interests of Lighthouse Canton and clients are aligned. It will work closely with subject matter experts, including its client and non-client network, to research and assess the investments, providing clarity and confidence in the robustness of the firm’s diligence processes when selecting such investments. While on the other hand, it will also work with companies seeking funding to tap into the same network, to grant them access to industry expertise, appropriate connections, and advice to directly drive value.
Since its inception in 2014, Lighthouse Canton has grown significantly both in manpower and AUM; it employs over 90 full time employees in Singapore, Dubai and India, overseeing USD2.09billion (As of 31 March 2021) of total assets under management and advisory.
The firm credits its growth to its belief in creating innovative financial solutions and sustainable partnerships with clients. The move to develop such a business model further cements its commitment to this and, in doing so, provides an incentive for Lighthouse Canton to ensure appropriate investment in skills and resources that support the assessment and management of venture capital investment opportunities.
“Lighthouse Canton’s VC/PE vertical will be central in providing more clarity, transparency and control to clients on their investments and assets.” said Shilpi Chowdhary, Chief Executive Officer of Lighthouse Canton. “But helping clients address lifecycle management of their investments is just part of the equation. We want to build an ecosystem with the capabilities and expertise to provide insights into the industries we are focusing on, for both investors and companies seeking funding alike. This is something many banks do not currently offer, and we are excited to be able to bring to the table our expert advisory and investment capabilities in the expanding world of private assets.”
With decades of institutional specialized finance expertise and strong risk management track records, Lighthouse Canton serves an international client base of accredited private clients and institutional investors. It offers both asset management capabilities across public and private markets, as well as wealth advisory services.
Lighthouse Canton is regulated by Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”), while its subsidiary in Dubai is regulated by Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”).
For more information please visit www.lighthouse-canton.com.
